Coop's Corner: Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Wisconsin Moto Guzzi Rally - 2016

I left ScooterBob home.

It wasn't an easy decision but it seemed the practical one. If the wooden scooter is still hanging around Minnesota in a few weeks, there will most definitely be a rally trip, a trip to my favorite rally of the year.

This Wisconsin Rally is typically right up there at the top of the heap though and it was incredibly so this year with weather made for motorcycles gathering for outdoor recreation. After some of the weather we've had in the weeks prior (hot and very humid) cool nights and nicely warm days truly turned out to be a gift.

While going through Winona, my helmet cam was off but when I saw this outfit pull up beside me, I had the presence of mind to flip the switch. I mentioned it to the guys at the rally and there was a bit of consensus that this bike may have its home in or near Red Wing. This was the first time I'd seen it.

I met Dave in Witoka and then we followed MN 76 down to Caledonia for breakfast. In fact we followed 76 all the way down to the Mississippi River at Marquette before crossing over into Wisconsin. Before we got there however, it was time for a stop to let Justin out for some sniffing around in the Effigy Mounds National Monument parking lot.

Taking some new back roads, we managed to sneak into Platteville straight from the west where we stopped for a salad lunch and some pick me up coffee.

We arrived a bit after 1:00, registration was setup and already busy.

Friday evening's food line.....brats, burgers, salads, fruit and of course, the beer on tap, the beer wagon hiding behind Ernie's vending area.

My neighborhood.....

Just before sunrise Saturday morning......the tapper wagon lit for Safety.

Roger was there....but got away before I could even say hi. I saw him once or twice but we never quite connected.

Taking the back and very scenic way to Mineral Point, we 4 riders did a very short stint on US 151. Note the anti-hydro grooves in the concrete that the Countour 2+ seems to highlight.

We had our breakfast at the Pointer Cafe.

Taking the long way towards Galena, we found a flat, open view with dry ground on one side, soybeans on the other. This deemed a safe dog exercise area since Jill and Justin were our sidecar passengers.

Corn and beans.......

Not really intending to visit Galena, especially on a weekend, we ended up there anyway. Thankfully those that were following me continued to do so.

Flood gates that protect the valley city from a sometimes rampaging Galena River. In the gates....

and out again.....

I got us as far as Hanover where we stopped for a snack. My Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake (w/ice cream) was quite good. That and the coffee hit the spot.

Since we were now in Dan's neighborhood, he led the way, taking us out to Blanding Landing.

I'm normally out in front, my helmet cam lens much less dusty than when I follow.....a sidecar.

This was a place and roads that I knew nothing of. Dan's leading us there was a real treat.

The Can't Get Through Turn Around place.....

We met the USPS mail lady here.....

The gravel road trip was a loop that eventually saw us back in Hanover. Just as we got there, Dan's rig started having ABS issues. We determined that the same dust issue that was clouding up my photos must have clouded up Dan's ABS sensor. A gas/water/inspection/restart stop seemed to set us all right again.

84 miles to get here......Old Blue was doing just fine by me.

Beans and corn......

Downtown Darlington.....

Back at Lake Joy, riding through the campground to our site up on the hill.

I needed a quick drink and a short break, then Eric and I headed back to Belmont for gas so that we'd be ready Sunday morning for the trip home. There were a couple of places we'd missed and since it was Eric's first time at this rally, I took the long way back to Lake Joy after our gas fill.

The big "M"

We didn't climb the steps this time but even at the big letter's base, the view to the west is decent. From up on top of the mound, the view is amazing.

Back to camp for dinner and awards ceremony. I didn't partake of the 50/50 drawing this time. Payout was over $600 to the winner, the club kept the first $600. Speaking of numbers, our attendance of 282 was the most I'd seen at this rally in my years of attending.

The grounds clearing out.....

Once again, Dan and crew did a fantastic job with a lot for the rest of us to appreciate. Thank you!

642 miles, other than a spot of oil here and there, the '78 Yamaha ran like a top.

10 comments:

redlegsridesAugust 9, 2016 at 7:33 PM
Good pics of the rally and interesting motorcycles....I wonder how that two wheeler towing a trailer feels when moving.
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EricAugust 9, 2016 at 8:30 PM
Spectacular time had by all!
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motormikeAugust 10, 2016 at 5:22 AM
Look'd like a well attend'd event...not many.. " old " units.
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SonjaMAugust 10, 2016 at 11:34 AM
Prairie skies... I love them!

"Road ends in water" ? Seriously? If it weren't for the sign, nobody would have noticed? Hilarious!
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David MasseAugust 11, 2016 at 6:59 AM
I'd like to do a rally like that someday. Seems like a really nice change of pace.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)